CAIRO (UNA-OIC) – Mr. Yousef Khalawi, the Secretary General of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (ICCIA) met on 18th January 2022, with H.E. ambassador Ehab Fawzy, the Deputy Executive Director of the Women development Organization (WDO) at the HQs of the WDO in Cairo, on the margins of his visit to Cairo.
The meeting discussed the ways of building a new partnership between the two organizations. Each party presented its plan of activities for the year 2022 and the way forward to build a strategic partnership between both organizations with a special focus on women’s issues within the activities of ICCIA.
Ambassador Fawzy, focused in his presentation on the main thematic areas of the first programmatic cycle of the WDO, especially the area of the economic empowerment and financial Inclusion which is the most relevant area to the ICCIA mandate. He expressed his organization’s willingness to partner with ICCIA in this area. He also, stressed the important role the private sector can play in promoting the economic empowerment of women.
Mr., Khalawi, focused in his presentation on the microfinance projects which the ICCIA is implementing in many countries of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and their tangible and immediate impact on the economic status of the vulnerable populations in the OIC member states. He also touched upon the successful experience of the Family Bank which ICCIA is implementing together with the OIC Secretariat and other entities within the OIC system.
This meeting comes within the WDO’s coordination strategy to link with its sister organizations within the OIC system in order to achieve the biggest benefit possible to its member states and implement different OIC resolutions which call for coordination among the different entities and organizations of the OIC system. It comes also, as part of ICCIA commitment to connect with new OIC specialized organizations and build solid partnerships with them.
